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Pierre Grigorievich Korsakov
Pyotr “Pierre” Grigorievich Korsakov (Russian: Петр Григорьевич Корсаков, French: Pierre à Grégoire de Korsakoff; German: Peter Gregorson von Korsakov) (February 28th, 1718 - Present) is a Russian expatriate aristocrat, soldier, gambler, confidence man and courtier of Louis XIV. Originating from the Russian Empire, (the Tsardom of Russia at the time of his birth) Pierre, as he is referred to in both Russian and Grandelumierian society, was exiled from Russia in 1751 and traveled across Europe and Africa until he moved to the court of Louis XIV in 1758. He is renowned as a reckless prodigal, a man of massive appetites for women, money, and gluttony, and as a shameless opportunist with wickedly immoral behavior. Thus he is often a topic of caution and attraction in courtly society. Early Childhood Pierre was born on the 28th of February, 1718, to the Count Andrei Korsakov and his wife, the Countess Illya Korsakov in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was born the second child of the union, but was the heir apparent, as his older brother Nikolai had been killed in a duel two days before his birth over disputes come by in a financial matter. After his infancy, he was trusted primarily to the care of the family’s governess, the Grandelumierian born Mademoiselle de Grammont. He saw little of his parents, as his father, a favorite of Emperor Peter, his wife included, and they enjoyed elevated stations at his court. As Pierre grew older, he was subject to an education suitable to his rank; he had tutors from Grandelumiere, Germany, and the Netherlands teaching the most modern subjects, such as history, writing, mathematics, astronomy, music, German, and French, which were the premier tongues of his class. He was also taught fencing by the famous Chevalier d’Ailly. In 1734, upon turning sixteen, he entered the Imperial Russian Army as an aide-de-camp to the renowned Peter de Lacy. He saw action at Warsaw and Danzig during the War of the Polish Succession and was remarked by Lacy to the Emperor for his potential as a military leader. He returned to St. Petersburg after his tenure in the army and took up courtly life, attending salons and soirées almost nightly. Adulthood and Marriage Being the heir to one of the largest fortunes in Russia made Pierre a desirable bachelor for all female society, whose fathers constantly entertained him with the propositions of marriages with large dowries. Pierre insisted on refusing all, preferring the relaxed life of indecency and the reputation he had grown in Petersburg, but his own father eventually forced him into courting a particular Princess Maria Yusupova, whom he would eventually wed in the spring of 1738. The dowry he received from the marriage enabled Pierre to purchase his own property in St. Petersburg, and fund an ever-growing lifestyle of debauchery, much to the dismay of his increasingly estranged wife. The couple struggled to conceive a child, spending most of their time in separate households, and even when in the same house, servants claimed they shared a bed perhaps one night in ten. The Princess’ first pregnancy, which had been difficult enough to come by, ended in miscarriage. The second was carried for the full term, though the child was stillborn, and Pierre had not the slightest idea, for in 1741 he was serving as the colonel of the Sankt-Peterburgskiy Infantry Regiment during the Ten Years War against Prussia. Pierre and his regiment served with excellence in East Prussia, performing with distinction at the Battle of Gross-Jägersdorf during the failed invasion of East Prussia in 1741. On the retreat into Russia following the battle, he had earned the epithet "палач" ''(The Hangman), for his abuse towards Prussian farmers. While the Cossacks looted and burned farms to sustain the poorly fed army, Pierre hanged peasant guerillas who harassed and resisted their attempts. Pierre would earn distinction again in 1742 at the infamously brutal Battle of Zorndorf, in which Pierre personally captured a Prussian standard. His Sankt-Peterburgskiy regiment suffered famously terrible casualties, with over 500 men killed, and nearly 400 wounded. Pierre himself suffered a permanent scar on the face from a cavalry sabre. The Sankt-Peterburgskiy regiment remained in the reserve at the Battle of Paltzig in 1743, but would earn further glory at Kunersdorf, argued to be Frederick's greatest defeat. Pierre would go on to earn a brigade command and perform notably at the Siege of Kolberg in 1745. Pierre returned to Russia a war hero, receiving orders from the Empress Elizabeth, though he also returned to a failing marriage, which was practically at an end except in name. Pierre turned to administering his father’s feudal estates, as the senile Count was restrained to his provincial domicile. In 1747, his father’s health declined fatally, and the Count died on the 17th of March. Immediately following his death, there was a dispute over the late Count’s will, where numerous illegitimate sons had taken it upon themselves to challenge Pierre’s inheritance. Only by direct appeal to the Empress Elizabeth was Pierre able to keep his inheritance intact, paying the various illegitimate sons of his father meager sums to appease them. Pierre thenceforth remained in St. Petersburg at his late father’s residence, now Count Korsakov, he spent a fortune refurbishing his rural and urban estates with new decorations, furnishings, and art, importing the finest practices in high society into his own. By 1750, Pierre had hampered his massive fortune significantly through poor administration, unfortunate gambling, lavish balls, parties, land purchases, estates, cosmetic refurbishments, and financial favors. He had also reportedly entered an expensive relationship with Princesse Maria Obolensky née de Montbel d’Entremont, with whom he was rumored to have sired a son who was born in 1751. '''Demise and Exile' Around the time of the supposed birth of the child, Pierre, being a renowned and accomplished lover, had taken it upon himself to ingratiate himself intimately with Empress Elizabeth Romanov, though his attempts failed at the continued efforts of her established lover and supposed spouse, Count Andrey Razumovsky. In retribution, Pierre subsequently took action for the spurning out on the Count’s brother Kirill, whom Pierre then cheated out of a small fortune in a game of cards and burned one of the family estates. Pierre was promptly seized by the Empress, stripped of his lands and titles, and exiled from Russia, as she had vowed to never take a life while she reigned. In exile, Pierre left St. Petersburg for Vienna, where he lived in comfort with the small fortune he had managed to keep intact. While residing at the seat of Habsburg power, he was rumored to have an affair with the Archduchess Maria Anna, and all her ladies-in-waiting by some accounts. He left Vienna in 1752 after a failed attempt at achieving a diplomatic office from the Empress, who was wholeheartedly displeased about rumors stirred between Pierre and her sister. He took flight to Constantinople, where he superficially converted to Islam and took up the profession of a bodyguard and procurer at a clandestine brothel in the depths of Constantinople. For almost a year, Pierre lived peacefully in Constantinople, even curiously taking three prostitutes from the brothel as wives. He eventually took over the establishment from its founder and owner Ecevit Altin, though the establishment quickly became an unpopular, mismanaged and unprofitable mess. Pierre eventually earned criminal statues after the secrecy of the brothel was shattered and he was forced to take passage from the city on the Italian trading vessel Regina Della Mare on November 29th, 1752. Although he successfully escaped the justice of the Sultan, Pierre was later shipwrecked on the island of Lampedusa by a massive autumn storm. He and the surviving crew of Regina were stranded for a month on the island before they were discovered and captured by a passing ship of the Barbary Pirates, who landed on the shores of the island to take on water and provisions. After being captured by the corsairs, Pierre was taken to Tripoli, suffering horrid conditions in the galley, which would kill one of the survivors of the shipwreck. In Tripoli, the captives were taken to a slave market where they were auctioned off. The Italians were distributed amongst the houses of upper-class Turks, but after demonstrating his talents as a western aristocrat, Pierre was quickly bought by the Pasha of Tripoli as a slave of his household. Pierre quickly convinced the Pasha that he was indeed a Muslim, and therefore could not be kept a slave by reciting the Surah al-Fatihah; the first page of the Quran, which he had learned from one of his wives in Constantinople who was a Hafiza, or one who had memorized the Quran. Return to Europe The Pasha, fascinated with Western society and impressed by Pierre, maintained him in his household. It took Pierre many months to gain the trust of the Pasha. Once he did, he convinced the Pasha to allow him to tour Italy in search of musicians who he could bring to the Pasha’s employ. And so, in late 1753, Pierre, with a small fortune and an entourage of slaves, departed Africa for Naples with not the slightest intention of returning. In Italy, Pierre styled himself as Petrus Effendi (Lord Peter) an exotic Oriental gambler envoy, with whom one could enjoy a night of impossibly high stakes gambling and marvel at the fantastical cortège he toured around with their strange Islamic fashions, language, and alluring women. Pierre and his troupe enjoyed hospitality at all houses of good society in the Italian peninsula. For over a year he traveled Italy, and while never intending to complete his mission, he maintained fairly regular letters to the Pasha, whom he had completely beguiled with hopes of fine castrati, composers, tailors, painters and other treats of high society. In March of 1755, Pierre had nearly bankrupted the famous Ridotto gambling house in Venice, winning a sum of 1 million florins or approximately 2 million livres. Venetian officials suspected Pierre of cheating and investigated immediately. It cost Pierre dearly, as the Venetians seized all his property in Venice, including his slaves, who the officials saw as being held in an illegal bondage and promptly freed. To avoid further charges of being an Ottoman spy, Pierre crossed the Alps into Bavaria with what little he had left and remade his image as a professional fencer, claiming the Grandelumierian alias Chevalier de Grammont after his childhood governess. He came under the eventual employ of the von Seckendorff family, teaching their sons in fencing and horsemanship, as well as serving as a gamekeeper on their expansive Bavarian estate. By spring of 1756, he became bored of his position and it's meager pay, and left the service of the Seckendorff family, becoming a nomadic gamester once more, enjoying a level of success similar to that he experienced in Italy. For the remainder of the year and into 1757 he traveled the states of the Holy Roman Empire, raking in generous sums gambling and performing tricks of confidence. A more famous trick came about in early 1757 when Pierre landed at the court of Augustus III. In Dresden, Pierre became intimately associated with the Princess Maria Christina of Saxony by way his profession of cards and fondness for women. Through her, he came into acquaintance with Otto von Stolberg, who was quite dangerously afflicted with a vile mental disease. Conveniently, he was the son and heir to a lonely old widow, Countess Katharina Juliana von Stolberg. Pierre made it his business to immediately ingratiate himself with the sickly heir, which came very easily, as the man was practically a social pariah, being considered by many to be wholeheartedly stupid. Pierre soon found himself at Stolberg Castle with a widow who quickly enough became dependant on his presence, inside and outside the bedroom, with a son who was more than happy to have him around, as Pierre feigned amity so adeptly. Soon enough, as marriage became a topic of discussion between the aging Countess and Pierre, her health declined quickly and was suddenly bedridden. Simultaneously, her son Otto abruptly suffered a harsh mental breakdown and was unresponsive and infirm. His cousin, the Baron von Gedern, caught wind of the intrigues of Stolberg Castle and traveled there to profess his claim to his dying aunt. For all of Pierre’s attempts, he could not get rid of the tenacious Baron, who claimed he would guard Otto's estate as his administrator and execute the Countess’ will, something Pierre had petitioned for prior to the Baron’s arrival. Upon the eve of the Countess’ death on October 17th, 1757, the Baron von Gedern, now the protector and executor of the late Countess’ estate, expelled Pierre from Stolberg, labeling him a disgusting opportunist, and ensured none of the provisions the Countess had left for Pierre reached him, though he managed to leave off with a significant amount of clothing, jewelry, and fine art, the legality of such an act still in question. Pierre left Saxony unscathed, though very nearly, as he had an encounter with the law, from which he only avoided any sort of trouble by gifting the Minister of Police’s wife a set of diamond earrings. From Saxony, he made his way into Grandelumiere, where he began selling off his substantial trove. To his pleasant surprise, he was quite a sensation to Grandelumierian society, who found him to be a pleasing Western gentleman, but at the same time an exotic Russian enigma, and while not beautiful by Grandelumierian standards, he still wooed women with his now specific and tailored persona. Pierre Korsakov, penniless but for the money made from gambling and Stolberg treasures, albeit limited in profit by the expenses of his preferred lifestyle of aristocratic comfort, debuted at the famous court of King-Emperor Louis XIV in early 1758, where he lived thickly submerged in the intrigues and opportunities that he had fed and thrived on his entire adult life. Personality & Appearance Pierre is regarded as being a man of silence, using his words in a sparse but calculated and measured manner, reflective of a conniving and potentially deadly cunning. He is a pragmatic, tactical sort not resorting to any god or code of morals; he lives solely for his own interests. While not entirely ugly, he is not considered to be an outstandingly handsome man, save for his eyes, which are said to be a carnally seductive blue. A man of forty, he has a well-weathered face from a life of hard travels and adventure, preferring to use his rugged looks to construct a character desired by Grandelumierian society of a wild, romantic Rus adventurer. Titles & Styles February 18th, 1718 - September 19th, 1750 His High Born, Count Pierre Gregoirevich Korsakov December 5th, 1753 - March 14th 1755 Petrus Effendi (Lord Peter) March 15th, 1755- October 30th, 1757 Sa Seigneurie, Chevalier de Grammont (Fabrication) '''October 31st, 1757 - Present '''His High Born, Count Korsakov Category:Imperial Court Category:Foreign Courtiers Category:18th Century Births